How would you describe your personality?
a pattern of characteristic thinking, feeling and behaving that distinguishes one person from another and is stable over time
scientific study of the whole person in terms of species-typical characteristics and individual differences species-typical characteristics concern how individuals are alike individual differences concerns how individuals are different
Unconscious Sense of Identity Biology Conditioning and Learning Cognitive Traits and Skills Spirituality Interactions
Feel… attraction towards another… Think… it would be wrong to act on this… Behave… approach and avoidance…
lots of definitions and conceptions 1) lay circles 2) pop psychology
Personality? extraverted and outgoing warm and engaging
Nomothetic Ideographic
grand theories ◦ Freud, Millon single dimensions ◦ locus of control, extraversion
Important for a variety of reasons when working with others
Can personality change? Begin to stabilize?
The Grand Scheme sociology social psychology psychology (personality psychology) biology
Social Psychology Abnormal Psychology Development
Personality Psychology = the scientific study of the whole person in terms of species- typical characteristics and individual differences
epistemology - the study of knowledge rationalism = knowledge by exercising the mind empiricism = one gains knowledge by sensory experience
Induction – “bottom up” Deduction – “top down”
1) Observation 2) Theory 3) Testing
1859 – Darwin 1880s – Galton 1900 – Freud 1906 – Pavlov 1917 – First self-report measure
1919 – John B. Watson 1910 to 1930s – Jung, Adler, Horney 1920s – Kurt Lewin 1930s – Henry Murray 1930s – B. F. Skinner 1930s – Margaret Mead
1930s – Allport 1940s – R. B. Cattell 1940s – Existential Psychology in US 1950s – Humanistic, Cognitive, Biological 1960s – Interactionist 1970s – Study of Gender Differences
1970s – Behaviorism begins to fade 1980s – Modern Interactionism 1980s – Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology 1990s – The Big Five 1990s – Theories become narrower 2000s – Neuroscience, Cognitive, Biological
anyone’s guess Ideas move in a dialectical fashion Current: empirical Future: the opposite of empirical
Self-report: S Data Peer-report: I Data Life outcomes: L Data Watch the person: B Data
Self-report “S Data” What person says about themselves Questionnaires Very common
Big Five
“S Data” Advantage ◦ Best Expert ◦ Cause of what you do ◦ Simple and easy
“S Data” Disadvantage ◦ 4 Sources of Distortion
Peer report I Data - “Informant”
2) Peer report Advantage ◦ Objectivity
Peer report Disadvantages Problem with closeness leniency or harshness effect
Life Outcomes L Data How much money? Arrested? Graduate?
Life Outcomes Advantage ◦ Objective ◦ Exactly what we study ◦ Link to psych variables
Life Outcomes Disadvantage ◦ Behavior is multi-determined
Direct Observation B Data Natural Observation
“B Data” Advantage ◦ Objective ◦ Quantifiable ◦ Natural actions
“B Data” Disadvantage ◦ Hawthorne Effect ◦ Bias
Person S Data L Data B Data I Data Self-report Life Outcomes Peer Report Behavioral Data